Solar to be or not ?

[ERD50]

I live in SF CA and thinking about going solar.

My average bill is +/-100$ with max in winter time ~150$

On one hand going green sounds like a noble goal, but we also want to address the issue to stay with power in case of outages.

Wonder if anybody has done this and wants to share feedback.

Thx

Originally Posted by ckelly78z View Post
While the idea of going solar is appealing to many folks, the actual numbers may prove not cost effective. How long will it take to pay off your system with lower bills (Your electric bill is already fairly low) ?

Definitely a consideration.
But for this exercise we can say it's out of consideration.

wanaberetiree, what problem are you trying to solve?

You've got a lot of info and opinion, but it's not clear to me what is relevant, since you have not been clear about what your goals are.

Are you saying cost is not an issue?

It sounds like you are concerned about power outages? That is separate from solar. You can have solar without backup in an outage (typical of most systems), and you can have backup without solar. You can do that many different ways (batteries charged from the grid, or a Natural Gas, gasoline, or propane generator), but solar is pretty much a side issue, it isn't the issue.

-ERD50

 

[NW-Bound]

It's OK for the uninitiated to not know what to look for. It's like a buyer walking into an electronic store and saying he wants something for listening to music.

Ah, do you want an iPod or MP3 player, a pocket radio to listen to sports game broadcast, or a boom box, or a nightstand radio, or a floor-standing HiFi stereo, or a surround sound system?

Once he sees all the things that are available, then he will know to define his needs better.

 

[ERD50]

It's OK for the uninitiated to not know what to look for. It's like a buyer walking into an electronic store and saying he wants something for listening to music.

Ah, do you want an iPod or MP3 player, a pocket radio to listen to sports game broadcast, or a boom box, or a nightstand radio, or a floor-standing HiFi stereo, or a surround sound system?

Once he sees all the things that are available, then he will know to define his needs better.

Right, hopefully we hear back to see if he's focused, or has more questions, or?

-ERD50

 

[gerntz]

Here in San Diego with SDG&E (the worst)...
For the battery backup, we didn't consider it. Not many outages around our area

Pretty contradictory imo.

 

[NW-Bound]

Not all areas get hit by PSPS ("Public Safety Power Shutoff").

I don't know about San Diego, but in Northern CA, San Francisco city proper has always been spared, while Oakland and Sausalito across the bay got hit last year.

 

[caninelover]

We are having panels installed in the next two weeks.

We are in a windy corridor in SoCal and opted for one Tesla Powerwall in our grid connected system for backup power. It added significant cost and worsened the payback period to about 20 years, but we felt it worthwhile to have a few critical circuits powered during an outage (Fridge, internet, a few lights).

I agree with what others have said, backup power can be achieved without solar, if that is the goal.